Census Jobs

wolvesinwales

chaotic_j wrote: »

Needed to walk past a group of youths to get to more houses to call at on my list. Walked into the road totally minding my own business and then they sort of bounded up to me and surrounded me, making offensive remarks then without warning one of them grabbed me in a headlock.

They ushered me into a corner and I was forced to drink alcohol or they would beat me up.

I reported it to my co-ordinator and they have had meeting(s) with the area manager as this hasn't been the only incident but the most serious (other collectors have had knife through a car tyre and another chased away from an area).

I've just pretty much been asked if I want to carry on or not. They are talking about buddying up but think perhaps even that would be no good. The area I was assaulted in is now a no-go area without police protection.

I want to carry on but I think they are brushing this under the carpet a bit. I haven't done an incident form and when I mentioned it to my co-ordinator they said I didn't need to fill one in as I hadn't reported it to the police. I didn't report it to the police as I live half a mile away from the ED in question. They have reported it to the police though but not with my personal details.

Had a couple of other threatening experiences but did not expect to be attacked. Could easily have come out of the situation much worse.

Sounds awful what area are you working in ? I cant see buddying up doing anymore than providing a bigger challenge to the local bullies.

telboyo

chaotic_j wrote: »

Needed to walk past a group of youths to get to more houses to call at on my list. Walked into the road totally minding my own business and then they sort of bounded up to me and surrounded me, making offensive remarks then without warning one of them grabbed me in a headlock.

They ushered me into a corner and I was forced to drink alcohol or they would beat me up.

I reported it to my co-ordinator and they have had meeting(s) with the area manager as this hasn't been the only incident but the most serious (other collectors have had knife through a car tyre and another chased away from an area).

I've just pretty much been asked if I want to carry on or not. They are talking about buddying up but think perhaps even that would be no good. The area I was assaulted in is now a no-go area without police protection.

I want to carry on but I think they are brushing this under the carpet a bit. I haven't done an incident form and when I mentioned it to my co-ordinator they said I didn't need to fill one in as I hadn't reported it to the police. I didn't report it to the police as I live half a mile away from the ED in question. They have reported it to the police though but not with my personal details.

Had a couple of other threatening experiences but did not expect to be attacked. Could easily have come out of the situation much worse.

I would most definitely report this to the police and fill in the "accident" book at work, even if you report it as a "near miss". You might feel OK today but you my find it difficult to face the same sitution again tomorrow. It is your employers responsibility to ensure your safety at work. If they brush this under the carpet and you refuse to go to the area again they my send another unsuspecting person in to the are who gets worse treatment.

Purse_String

Had I phone call from capita, seems classroom ID might have been recorded negatively when I did bring everything in. Even the lady on the phone couldn't see why there's been a problem and will look into it. If I have to show them again, it will definately go on an expenses claim, I won't pay for incompetence.

Quote :iblametheparents 'I had 1.5 workloads and went round almost every address twice in my first 15 hours'. Unquote.

I wouldn't mind one workload mate, are co ordinators aware there are collectors in the pipeline?
Sorry for the rant, it seems the world's gone mad!

Kate78

dou_jyr wrote: »

sounds like your coordinator is handing things out in dribs and drabs. i'd best not go into specifics, but i was given 3 Eds last Weds, and i believe the others in my area were given similar size workloads, and suffice to say there's no way i could've done a first pass through them in under 2 days! :eek:

Yes, it sounds like it. We've been given all ours, we'll just see how many are still on the list on Wednesday, and how many of those who promised to complete and post their forms actually did so.

FenFatale

Purse_String wrote: »

Had I phone call from capita, seems classroom ID might have been recorded negatively when I did bring everything in. Even the lady on the phone couldn't see why there's been a problem and will look into it. If I have to show them again, it will definately go on an expenses claim, I won't pay for incompetence.

Quote :iblametheparents 'I had 1.5 workloads and went round almost every address twice in my first 15 hours'. Unquote.

I wouldn't mind one workload mate, are co ordinators aware there are collectors in the pipeline?
Sorry for the rant, it seems the world's gone mad!

I'm also still waiting for contact from my co-ordinator. HR know who she is and have left her a message, but still nothing. It's a ridiculous system, as there seems no way of getting anywhere if the co-ordinator is not playing ball. :mad:

em80

Hi

Can anyone tell me if I can claim hours for when I walk to meetings with my coordinator? Also do I calim my hours from when I leave my house to start work or from when I knock on my first door?

wolvesinwales

em80 wrote: »

Hi

Can anyone tell me if I can claim hours for when I walk to meetings with my coordinator? Also do I calim my hours from when I leave my house to start work or from when I knock on my first door?

I claim for all time i spend on census business including meeting co-ordinator and time spent before and after i leave the house doing paperwork, time sheets etc

NonGeographicalMan

chaotic_j wrote: »

I've just pretty much been asked if I want to carry on or not. They are talking about buddying up but think perhaps even that would be no good. The area I was assaulted in is now a no-go area without police protection.

Buddying up is actually very effective in this kind of area if there is a large enough group but it needs to be considerably more than two people. You need have at least as many people as any pack of yobs you might be reasonably likely to encounter. So at least 6 or ideally 8 people is needed on these hard core sink estates or other unpleasant urban street areas.

I had to help my sister out canvassing and/or delivering to 20 storey tower blocks in Wandsworth for an election. Those were only tackled with teams of around 8 people alternating between two or three floors as we went. Tower blocks are an inherently scary environment as even the 12 storey ones in my local leafy Surrey town had a very bad feeling when I did them during another election.

If this was any other long term job and you had this kind of bad experience as a low paid employee on the bottom rung of the ladder you would now be considered as entitled to go off on sick leave for at least a week or two to get over the ordeal and/or might have to be transferred to lower risk work for a while when you came back.

Clearly Capita have only contracted to provide you with work for four and a half weeks but if you had to go off sick you must surely be covered for some kind of sick pay during this period when it results directly from a circumstance of your employment. Also I am sure Capita must be liable for some form of compensation. Especially if you could show that you only got in to this situation due to Capita or ONS proposing unsafe working arrangements in a known dangerous area.

Of course if this was a good job with long term prospects then perhaps you might let it go but this is Capita paying you damn all and putting you through numerous hoops just to get four weeks work that has now risked your safety and mental well being. Also how do you know that what they made you drink was just alcohol and/or how do you know that they didn't have some nasty virus or other they might have passed on if they had already drunk from the bottle first.

What you need to do is to report this to the Police and your doctor and then go and see one of those firms of solicitors who you see advertising on the telly about getting compensation if you have had any sort of accident or injury while at work.

I don't know if you are a man or a woman but if you are a woman this sort of thing might especially haunt you and make you fearful about your safety for a long time afterwards. Clearly the ONS and Capita seem to have made no special provision in a presumably known dangerous area although I'm sure you could check the statistics on this at www.police.uk where you can see maps of crime rates for any UK postcode area.

Of course your Capita paid manager will tell you it is nothing to worry about and to just carry on as they will be hoping to minimise their corporate liability. However it is not in your own interests to do so and you ought to go and see the Police, your doctor and an injury at work specialist lawyer about this.

em80

wolvesinwales wrote: »

I claim for all time i spend on census business including meeting co-ordinator and time spent before and after i leave the house doing paperwork, time sheets etc

Ok thanks

surreysaver

NonGeographicalMan wrote: »

Of course your Capita paid manager will tell you it is nothing to worry about and to just carry on as they will be hoping to minimise their corporate liability. However it is not in your own interests to do so and you ought to go and see the Police, your doctor and an injury at work specialist lawyer about this.

And remember to claim on your timesheet for going to the doctor and police too, as it is on company business....